Overview
Launched in 2005, and likened to eBay and Betfair by the UK press, Zopa is an addition to the emerging group of peer-to-peer services enabled by the internet. It was set up by a management team drawn from many of those that founded Egg in the UK. The company is based in London and backed by Benchmark Capital and Wellington Partners.
In 2006 the Social Futures Observatory published a study entitled "Internet Based Social Lending", which seeks to understand the antecedents of social lending, drawing parallels with friendly societies, and using Zopa as a major source of case study material.
Zopa operates in the United Kingdom and Italy, and a service is being developed for Japan. Each geographical area has a slightly different model.
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